Senate Appropriations Committee
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee
Department of Interior’s oil, gas and mineral revenue programs
At the hearing, Chairman Feinstein will call for passage of legislation she has sponsored to close a loophole that has allowed oil and gas companies to pay no royalty payments for drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf for leases negotiated in 1998 and 1999. This measure to close the loophole was stripped from the FY2008 Interior Appropriations bill.
Under this provision, the companies who have not renegotiated their existing contracts will have a choice.
- They can keep their existing leases royalty-free if they so choose, but be barred from bidding on new contracts, or
- They can agree to renegotiate these leases in good faith and be able to participate in the bidding for new leases.
- C. Stephen Allred, Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management, Department of the Interior
- Randall Luthi, Director, Minerals Management Service